CCDD 20210623 - Invisibility Field

I feel like the top-down Invisibility I was going for here may have gotten away from me a little bit. I'm not sure being able to target it with creatures (and stapling on the Illusion ability) is enough of a window for this to feel different enough from Whispersilk Cloak.

 

CCDD 20210621 - Harmonic Coordination

There is surprisingly little mono-G top-down design space in a Heist Movie theme. I put the clockwork maneuvering of the squad in the Common Bond/Seeds of Strength space, but I wonder if I forced it to be different targets if it would be a better design.

The Great Redesigner Search: Circus

Welcome back to the Great Redesigner Search, a series where I redo all of my GDS3 entries. This week I'll be going over everything from round 2, the top-down challenge set on the circus plane of Bigtopia. Though I placed in 2nd, there were a lot of misses and room for improvement. As always, you can read my original entries and judge commentary here.

CCDD 062320 - Cascading Failures

Here's a Shatter variant that punishes artifact-heavy decks. 

CCDD 040520 - Trainer's Orb

This is a very top-down design. By that I mean: first I designed the name and mana cost... then the type line and rarity... and then the abilities.

Weekend Design Challenge 062218 - Random Redesign

Hey Artisans. Click through to see the requirements for this weekend's design challenge, due Monday morning. Every submission warrants feedback, so once you've got your great idea down, give some thoughtful critique to some of your peers. Revise your submission any number of times, and on Monday-ish, I'll review the most recent submission from each designer.

Step by Step -- “May the Forth” Weekend Design Challenge

By Ryan Siegel-Stechler

Hi y’all! This week I’m demoing what may become a somewhat regular article on GA, walking through step-by-step how I came to my design for the weekend design challenge. I hope that doing it this way will give some insight into the things that I think about during my process, some of the potential pitfalls and concerns that come up, and a demonstration of the editing process that takes place behind the scenes.

Hope you enjoy!

CCDD 050218 - Nemesis Aura

I've been contemplating flavor for a new set, and I wanted to find a mechanic that played up an arch-rivalry. One of the things I came up with wasn't enough to be a full-blown mechanic, but might make for an interesting card.

CCDD 050417—Haunted Blade

Cool Card Design of the Day
5/4/2017 - Top-down equipment.

Tesla: About Double Face

Welcome back, everyone! Last time on Tesla, we discussed Kicker variants for Tesla. One of the big possibilities we discussed was a mechanic called Discovery (now being called 'Develop'), which utilized double-faced card technology for its unique take on Kicker. This week, we're going to discuss the role of DFCs in Tesla, and what approaches we could take regarding them.

Tesla Design Challenge 0328016 — Top-Down Designs

Hello again, everyone! Yes, this week is a Tesla double feature! Yesterday, I discussed some approaches to filling the Tesla set skeleton as a team. One such method I mentioned was producing 'bounties', various ideas that simply must be in the final set as a card. This week, we're going to be focusing on one such bounty... the top-down design!

CCDD 022416 Late-Nite Edition -- Eldrazi-Bone Gurney

There was a lot going on in today's denoument-installment of the story formerly known as Uncharted Realms, but my brain wouldn't let go of the idea of Chandra using a piece of Ulamog as a chair while she recovered. I especially liked the idea of it paralleling Dragon Throne of Tarkir in some way.

Chanukah Wrap-Up

Chanukah finished a few days ago, but I wanted to put up some cards for the last two days. I have those posted down below, but before we get to them, I wanted to talk about the CPotD series a little bit.

Three Dreams (or Three Rares)

As the first installment of Subdivisions wasn't especially well-received, I'll save myself the effort and just leave it unresolved. And while I thought to at least discuss some of the designs that resulted from that task, I've just uploaded the majority of my set file to Alex Churchill's Multiverse, so who cares about some weeks old ramblings? Instead, let's talk about some random designs!

Contest Results

After careful deliberation and some slight delay, the three designs (for what will hopefully be the first of many design contests here at Goblin Artisans) have been chosen. Though we didn't receive quite as many submissions as I would have hoped, there was still a fair amount of competition. As we contributors aren't of a hivemind, I won't be able to speak for the reasoning behind my compatriots' selections, but I'll do my best to explain what influenced my own thought process through the various critiques.

Top-Down Tuesday - Executioner's Deathmask ( + Contest)

Though I intended to return with yet another hearty dose of ghastly blather, editing the many articles of my fellow contributors got me itching to write something with a bit less heft. (Yet hopefully just as much chew — like a Baby Ruth.) And it being Tuesday, what better day could there be to discuss a couple of top-down designs? Presumably none as alliterative, that's for sure.

CCDD 030411—Paradise Maiden

Cool Card Design of the Day
3/04/2011 - Paradise Maiden is the love-child of Llanowar Elves and Birds of Paradise that I would argue is more or less inevitable. That's not what prompted her creation though: This is another card inspired by art. Here's the twist though, it wasn't really a top-down design.